Career Consultants

This team of experts work with you to determine your specific career and employment needs and how Stewart, Cooper & Coon may apply our considerable resources to meet these needs. Their other function is to present your candidacy to our coaching, recruiting, administrative, and candidate marketing teams who will be working on your candidacy.

U.S. OPERATIONS

Oliver P. Cornell , Managing Director

Oliver is one of the early adopters of the use of modern marketing techniques to effect the transition of highly successful executives and professionals from one position to another. He is one of the pioneers in the development of individual and corporate outplacement consulting practices that saw career transition as a marketing problem, a problem of positioning, packaging, promoting and pricing.

He began his career as a college teacher and became involved in publishing, eventually running a small publishing house in Chicago, Printer’s Row Press, publishing a weekly newspaper, pamphlets, journals and books, primarily in the political arena.

In early 1980 he began a new career in corporate and executive outplacement built upon the principles of modern marketing. Rising to the position of Executive Vice President he was one of the key associates to grow the company nationwide, personally working along the way helping to place hundreds of senior level managers and executives in new and exciting growth opportunities. In 1986 he formed his own executive placement and corporate outplacement firm and built the company to cover twenty-one major market areas in the West, successfully working with thousands of clients. He retired from the career industry in 2001.

In that same year, he turned his passion into a business and began managing investments. He also helped found a company that was highly successful in raising money for schools, a project that continues to be important to Oliver to this day.

Realizing the absolute necessity of using the Internet and its enormous access to information to run a successful executive search he joined Stewart, Cooper & Coon coming back to the business of helping serious-minded executives find rewarding new jobs and careers.

Chuck McConnell, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Charles “Chuck” McConnell has been a leading voice in career management for many years. He defined and developed First Career Corporation and FindCareer.com and serves as the “Career Expert” for New York American Marketing Association. He has published numerous articles on the subject of career management and search preparation and has organized national and international conferences that have assisted thousands in getting their career searches on track.

Prior to his work in career services, Chuck was the Senior Consulting Partner at The Watson Group, a strategic communications agency based in NYC. His background includes corporate management positions with multinational marketers in the packaged goods, snack, confection, toy and apparel industries. Chuck was President of The Apparel Group Limited, building worldwide acceptance of men’s apparel. He also has held global management positions at top advertising agencies such as WPP, Bozell and DMB&B and major marketers including Hanes, International Playtex and General Foods. Chuck earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business.

Dennis Johnston, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Dennis was an early adopter of the principles of professional marketing, branding, positioning and promotion to apply them to career management and executive placement. Starting off his career in the outplacement and individual placement industry with Performance Dynamics International, he quickly was promoted to the position of Executive Vice President.

After working with senior executives from virtually every industry and function for six years, he decided to strike out on his own and started his own private practice. Dennis spent much of his career building his consulting business and assisting thousands of clients.

He has helped his clients win top positions with Fortune 500 companies, as well as, secure opportunities in emerging high growth industries, and negotiate extremely lucrative financial packages. His extensive career assisting individuals from across many industries has provided him with a uniquely diverse expertise that he continues to leverage for the benefit of his clients.

With over 30 years of experience Dennis was welcomed by Stewart, Cooper & Coon as a senior team member to provide leadership to this fast growing premier professional service company. Bringing his vast knowledge of the obstacles that stand in the way of career success and how to overcome them, he has become an integral part of the future of Stewart, Cooper & Coon. Dennis attended Purdue where he was granted an undergraduate degree in Industrial Management. He continued his education and has an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.

Robert Walsh, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Bob brings over 30 years of extensive corporate experience in domestic and international executive management, marketing, and sales to Stewart, Cooper & Coon. Having worked and lived overseas, he also possesses an international business perspective. He also brings team building, and leadership, and throughout his career has helped companies adapt to changing situations and markets.

He began his career as an engineer with Schlumberger, Ltd., a high technology corporation providing products and services to the oil and gas industry. He has managed divisions with P&L responsibility generating $30 Million in revenue and has held the titles of Director of Marketing for North American operations and Director of Marketing for the UK and Ireland covering the North Sea. As President and General Manager, Bob applied his business and marketing skills to two start-ups for European technology companies and, as part of his diversification strategy, established business ventures in both the US and South America. He was successful in turning these operations into profitable ventures for the parent companies by focusing on continuous improvement of corporate performance, planning, and communication with a strategic vision.

As an executive management consultant, he was a recognized expert on corporate management, business development, marketing, sales development, and start-up support. He has consulted for a wide spectrum of companies from executive training to business development and automation in the commercial greenhouse industry. Successful assignments ranged from developing a restructuring plan for failing companies to the development of a business plan for a high tech start-up searching for capital funding from venture capitalists.

Through his technical background he has developed strong analytical skills, but Bob’s true passion is helping executives progress in their career pursuits. He has worked in the executive career management field for over 10 years as COO of a firm in Denver and is adept at mentoring senior executives to move their career forward to the next level. This blend of experience allows him to help clients evaluate their options, develop strategies, and execute tactical campaigns to successfully market their strengths into new career opportunities. His extensive experience in the corporate arena allows him to provide strong guidance and direction to executive clients.

Bob is very active in Rotary International, serving as District 5450 Membership Chair for much of Colorado and is President of the Denver Mile High Rotary Club, 2012 – 2013.and graduated from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette with a BS d

Josh Randall , Senior Executive Career Consultant

Josh was educated in Western Canada and earned a Fitness and Amateur Sports Scholarship to the University of Saskatchewan for athletics and academic achievement. He was drafted by the Chicago Black Hawks at age 15 and remained with the Chicago organization for six years.

After this, he taught and coached five years at the high school and college level. He then worked as a CSA (Canadian Ski Alliance) certified Ski Instructor at Sunshine Village, Banff, Alberta. Having received his Tennis Instructor accreditation from Tennis America, Josh worked one-on-one with Dennis Van de Meer and Billy Jean King.

After being invited to Europe to coach Professional Hockey, Josh joined Hal Laycoe to coach the Dutch National team and was the Coach/Manager of the Dutch Junior National Team. Licensed by the KNLTB, the Dutch Tennis Bond, he developed a new tennis instructional program based on range of motion and injury prevention. He also taught tennis at Tennispark Marlot, a club that he also managed.

Josh was then recruited by Adidas as the International Marketing/Promotions Director for Winter Sports and Racket Sports overseeing 88 countries where he reported directly to the owner of Adidas, Horst Dassler. Josh developed and negotiated promotional contracts with Ilie Nastase, Stan Smith, Tom Okker, Raul Ramirez, Ivan Lendl and many other professionals. With Adidas, Josh became Player Agent for the Adidas-sponsored Russian and Czechoslovakian hockey players. He negotiated all contracts with Russian and Czech government officials for sponsorship and supply of equipment.

Josh then returned to North America and was recruited by Performance Dynamics International and worked for seven years in the Corporate Outplacement business. Over the last 30 years Josh has developed his career marketing expertise in United States and Canada and is now Senior Executive Placement Consultant with Stewart Cooper and Coon.

Tom Kelsay, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Tom held executive positions with national and international firms in both the profit & non-profit sectors of the economy representing six different industries. He served as the Marketing Director for three NYSE firms prior to functioning as the COO for one of them and President for several other firms. Tom served as the interim president for two acquisitions made by a NYSE firm.

He coordinated the listing of a firm on the NYSE and, as president and founder, took two firms public. His record of bringing about substantial increases in profits and share of market, the creative positioning of corporations, and directing successful acquisitions and turnarounds, have been reported by the Wall Street Journal and Smith Barney Reports. Tom has lectured on subjects ranging from direct response marketing to strategic planning for universities, the AMA, government agencies and served as an adjunct professor for a major university.

He has two creative works in the Library of Congress and letters of appreciation from Ford Motor Company, Kraft Foods, B.F. Goodrich, Nestles, Chase Bank, and dozens of other high profile firms. His executive expertise was applied to a variety of products and services in the electronic funds transfer industry, farm machinery, Home & Family Shopping Center, Executive Loans by Mail, and the introduction of the broad spectrum antibiotic Erythromycin into veterinary medicine.

Tom attended Simpson College and UCLA before earning his B.S.C. from the University of Iowa. He also received AMA’s certificate for C-level executives, has an extensive musical background and is a veteran.

He has also worked in the non-profit sector and held the title of Executive Director for a Community Foundation. Particularly important to those with whom he consults is his experience as the President and Executive Director for two prominent firms that specialize in the understanding and advancement of human development, one being the Center for Applications of Psychological Type, internationally known for their work using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

Prior to joining Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Tom worked with over 1500 people in helping them to attain their career goals. Tom sees himself as an educator and facilitator between at the point where individuals find themselves now, and the point where they want to be. It’s that ‘T’ in the road where Tom helps them gain a clear understanding of what tools and knowledge are available to them and how to apply that knowledge in order to make sound and critically important career decisions.

Blaine Ross Johnston, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Blaine brings over 30+ years in the outplacement field to the SC&C business table. Before discovering the career outplacement field, he worked in both retail and consumer industry sectors. After finding his passion in the outplacement field, and in the career transition industry, Blaine has continually delivered results across the executive placement, corporate recruiting and corporate outplacement sectors. He is an expert at working with senior executives to identify both immediate needs and long-term goals as well as crafting personalized strategies designed to maximize service delivery and client satisfaction.

He founded Harrington Ross Associates (1986—2013) as a senior executive corporate outplacement firm and worked with thousands of senior executives in career transition and built the company into an industry leader. Blaine decided to join Stewart, Cooper & Coon in 2014. He was a known executive leader in his field as well as for his strong desire to help his executive clients with their transition strategies, helping them make financially powerful and effective career moves and providing solutions for them that helped them overcome even the most complex challenges and obstacles for a successful job transition.

Blaine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Ball State University and is an active member in his community. He takes great pride in his many clients that continue to remind and thank him for the important role he has played in their lives.

Scott Priester, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Scott has more than 30 years of experience in the areas of consultative sales, Enterprise class consulting, and marketing management. Scott began his career in the Telecommunications industry, where he held a number of positions over a 15-year span: the first as a General Manager for AT&T in the retail division, as well as Director of Operations for AT&T where he played a major role in opening all customer care call centers nationwide for AT&T wireless services. He also published policies and procedures for their employees. He was able to reduce expenses by over 10M over a 5 year period.

He then accepted a position as the Regional Vice President for Lucent Technologies and Avaya and led their Enterprise Solutions Group for several years, where he facilitated over 200M in new business, specializing in organizational effectiveness, business process re-engineering and disaster recovery.

Prior to joining SC&C, Scott worked for a national career consulting organization, advising C level Executives with their career paths and worked with thousands of clients over a 6 year period with exceptional results.

Rodney Lamb, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Rodney has been an executive in several diverse industries in his career. He has led start-ups and turn-around situations managing the operational side of those, as well as business development and marketing for both his own company and others.

Rodney was President / CEO of Riostar 11, a multi concept hospitality Firm located in Dallas Texas with several locations spread over many states. He worked closely with VC groups as well as solely responsible for raising millions of dollars through conventional financing..

Prior to joining SCC, Rodney spent over 8 years coordinating the delivery of solutions to help C-level and executive management in identifying appropriate positions. He is known among his peers and clients, as someone with high level of integrity and exceptional people skills.

Dan Belger, Senior Executive Career Consultant

Dan brings more than 25 years executive experience in a broad range of businesses from divisions of Boise Cascade, Union Pacific, Loomis, Valhi, Laidlaw and Allied Industries to smaller rapid growth ventures in the private sector including BNG Fuel Corporation. He has managed regional and national sales teams with a strong record of driving account growth, building revenue, and opening new markets with major successes in acquisitions, turnarounds, and mergers.

Building on his depth and expertise in business and industry, Dan has worked with hundreds of executive clients to assist them in advancing their career or making a transition to a new position. Dan earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from the University of Denver.